To Montessori or Not to Montessori...

My friend Ariah and I have been dialoguing about the Montessori method. His children are almost "school" age and he is trying to get a better grasp on the merits of the Montessori charter school in his neighborhood.

He really enjoyed my latest response and said I should blog it. So here it is...

Ariah: Here's my biggest question for now: Are there examples of successful montessori schools in urban neighborhoods? Everyone I talk to seems to think it's nice in theory, but wouldn't really work with urban youth. Particularly black and latino males.
Any examples in your research of a montessori school that has been successful in an urban setting for the long haul?

Joshua: In America right now, public Montessori schools pretty much only exist in urban neighborhoods. Some have been around for 15 years or more. Others are pretty new. This is mostly because urban areas are the ones with failing schools, so they are the ones that get the grant money to turn a school into a Montessori school.

A brief history lesson - Maria Montessori's path down the trail that we now know as the Montessori method started in the San Lorenzo slums in Italy. She worked with kids that society had written off as worthless, or deemed unable to learn, because of their social status. They weren't sent to school, they were just left in a courtyard while their parents went to work. (Hmmm...this sounds eerily familiar.) After several years of research, the newly founded Montessori method, saw these students out perform their upper class counterparts on the yearly exams.

Fast forward. I realize we are in a different time, different context. I also realize Montessori in America has a reputation as an elitist form of education, or an anything goes hippy free for all. These environments may not be the best for African-American or Latino boys. But Montessori is so much more than this, and I find comments like the ones people have spoken to you, while I'm sure not meant to be, extremely offensive. I may be incorrectly reading into the comments, but what I hear is... "Black kids and Mexican kids can't learn unless the environment is very rigid and very structured where all choices are made for them.

So let's debunk a few myths.
1. Montessori is loosey goosey, anything goes.
Montessori is structured. It is structured in a way that trains and enables students to make appropriate, responsible, decisions that build self confidence and intrinsic motivation. With appropriate guidance, students are empowered to make their own decisions, not just in the classroom, but with lessons that are called "practical life lessons."

2. The Montessori curriculum is pretty weak.
Actually, the intentional design of the curriculum makes it extremely rigorous. (Rigor means depth). The curriculum at American schools tends to be a mile wide and an inch deep. The Montessori curriculum moves at a pace that allows the child to potentially gain a very deep understanding of the subject matter, a much deeper understanding than their "school as factory" counterparts.

3. Montessori is only for middle and upper class white kids.
As our history lesson pointed out, the Montessori method was started with social outcasts. It's no coincidence that Montessori is making a resurgence in America with our country's social outcasts. Every child has great potential. Because the Montessori method is focused on the development of the child, it can adapt to all children from all cultures and backgrounds.

Speaking only from my own classroom and school experience, I have seen this to be very true. But of course, we each must decide for ourselves.

Fast Company

I am reading an article in the April issue of Fast Company magazine called "A is for App." The main idea is that mobile technology such as the iphone, small handheld computers, can revolutionize education and provide a possible fix to our current education problems.

The article is very interesting and gives strong evidence to support the claims. Students in Chicago schools are improving their reading and math scores. Students in Mexico are able to be exposed to learning that they never had a chance to be exposed to before. Of course their are huge question marks and potential pitfalls. The thing that stood out to me the most in this article was a common thread that ran through the whole thing.

"...it does present the tantalizing prospect of revolutionizing how children are educated by drawing on their innate hunger to seize learning with both hands and push all the right buttons."

"...we encourage teachers not to do any pretraining. Pass the devices out, turn them on, and let the kids figure them out."

"...in Baja, I watch children aged 6 to 12 pick the machine up and within a few minutes, with no direct instructions, they're working in groups of three, helping one another figure out the menus by trial and error."

"Why does education have need to be so structured? What are we afraid of?"

So, what are we afraid of? This thread of creating an environment and allowing students to engage it, mostly on their terms, is one of the core essentials in the Montessori method. Allowing students to concretely "get their hands" on their learning is the foundation of Montessori. The logic being used to support the use of these handhelds in the classroom is the same logic that started the Montessori method over 100 years ago.

"This idea imagines a new role for teachers...the main transformational change that needs to happen is for the teacher to transform from the purveyor of information to the coach."

Teachers, called directors or directresses have been doing this in Montessori classrooms around the world for a very long time.

Why do these ideas seem so new? Why don't more people know about the Montessori method and when will they?

One of the concluding points in the article may help provide an answer.

"A system built around tools that allow children to explore and figure things out for themselves would be radical for most developing-world schools, which emphasize learning by rote. In the United States, which is currently in love with the state curriculum benchmarks and standardized tests, it could be just as hard a sell."

It's time for that romance to end.

The 30 Minute Challenge

As I continue to talk to people about the Montessori Method, I come across many who are unfamiliar with it. In trying to find a solution to this, I've come up with the 30 Minute Challenge. Find a Montessori school near you. Call ahead and make an appointment. Take 30 minutes from you day and spend it observing a Montessori classroom. Make some notes, jot down some observations. Then contact me and we can talk about what you saw and get your questions answered.

It is my belief that if more people knew about the Montessori Method they would demand their local schools follow it.

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